


Doctors for Days

by SingingInTheRaiin



Series: Worth the Wait [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: The Day of the Doctor, F/F, F/M, Gen, Rose has been interfering in timey things for a very long time, Rose is an artist, Roses and Doctors galore, marriage bond, the Doctor and Rose are married, time travel makes things confusing, try not to question the logistics of a time loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 18:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20801306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Three Doctors from three different times, three Rose Tylers from three different times. Add in a whole lot of time travel nonsense, and maybe they'll actually be able to get something done (like maybe saving Gallifrey from its original fate?)Day of the Doctor AU, Part of a series, but can also be read standalone.





	Doctors for Days

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it doesn't get too confusing, but whichever one gets referred to as just 'the Doctor' depends on who's pov that section is being told from

The Doctor’s hands slowed down, and she trailed off from the long and complicated explanation she’d just been giving to River about why pocket universes and parallel universes were different. She’d been able to hear Rose’s amusement in the back of her mind, through their beautiful bond, for the better part of an hour now, though she hadn’t been sure what had caused that amusement in her wife.

But between one word and the next, that amusement had disappeared, replaced by something closer to panic and confusion. The Doctor ignored River’s shout as she bolted off in the direction of Rose’s studio. She knew that her wife had insisted on not being disturbed in there for at least a couple of days, and as much as it pained her to do so, the Doctor had obeyed her wife, just as she always did. 

But something was clearly wrong, and the Doctor wasn’t just going to sit by and let Rose go through distress all on her own. The TARDIS seemed to agree with the Doctor’s concern, because the ship led the Doctor straight to the studio, and didn’t even try a token locking of the door. 

The Doctor burst in and saw her wife rummaging through the closet full of paintings that she refused to let the Doctor see because they were too full of ‘spoilers’. “Rose! What’s wrong?”

Rose turned around, clutching a rather large painting. It took the Doctor a moment, but then she recognized it from the glimpse she’d gotten on the day she’d proposed to Rose. Then she realized that she recognized it from somewhere else as well, and her shoulders slumped down. She hated the alarm that she could feel echoing through their bond, but at least she already knew the outcome of this particular adventure. 

Instead of answering the Doctor’s question, Rose shoved the monstrosity into the Doctor’s arms. It wasn’t even in Rose’s usual delicate style, and the pompously heavy frame only made it feel less like Rose’s. “I need you to deliver this to England around 1562- no, 3 to be on the safe side. Give it to Elizabeth I, or drop it off in her gallery or whatever.” 

The Doctor barely glanced at the painting before giving her wife a searching look. “What’s going on?” She pretty much already knew, but that didn’t make it any easier to let her wife go. They really needed to stop making a habit of having Rose disappear on her. 

Rose sighed, and then leaned forward to give the Doctor a brief kiss. And even though Rose was obviously upset by the situation that was going on, the Doctor couldn’t help feeling pleased about having regenerated into someone much closer to Rose in height. While there was a lot of fun in being so much taller than her lover, there was also something nice about their faces always being at the perfect level for a kiss. 

Then Rose pulled away before the Doctor could drop the painting and pull her wife into a tight embrace. “I think that I have to go now. I won’t be gone for long, I promise, but there’s something that I have to do. Or something that I’ve already done? Just- I love you, always and forever.”

She disappeared in a brilliant golden light a moment later, and the Doctor had to close her eyes to avoid being blinded. When she opened her eyes again, Rose was gone without a trace, and the Doctor was left with nothing but a bizarre painting in her arms. But if there was one thing the Doctor would always believe in, that would be Rose, and so she dragged herself back to the console room, bringing the painting with her, so that she could do as her wife had asked. 

River had her hip leaned up against the console when the Doctor returned, and her arms were crossed over her chest. “What’s going- oh.” She caught sight of the art that the Doctor was carrying, and then there was a fond little smile on the other woman’s face. “I see. I’m not sure how long she’ll be gone for, but I suppose that I ought to give you some company in the meantime. We both know that you’re rubbish on your own.”

The Doctor tried to look offended, but it was difficult to pull off when she knew that it was the truth, and she also knew that River was a friend who cared deeply about her. So she propped the painting up on the jumpseat, and then started punching in the coordinates for 1500s England. “She couldn’t even give me somewhere interesting to go,” the Doctor grumbled, trying to tamp down all of her worry.

River just snorted. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure that it’ll be plenty interesting enough. Or at least, you thought it was the first couple of times around.” The Doctor narrowed her eyes at that cryptic statement, but River refused to elaborate. “Well, let’s go then, Doctor. Wouldn’t want to keep your wife waiting, would you?”

,,, 

The Doctor and Rose both cheered and clapped as Clara drove her motorcycle into the TARDIS and parked perfectly in the console room. Then Rose walked over to Clara to take the girl’s coat and drape it carefully over the railing before giving Clara a fond look. “So how’s school going?”

“Teach anything good?” the Doctor asked over his shoulder from where he was busy typing something into the TARDIS.

Clara shook her head. “No. Learn anything?”

Rose and the Doctor both glanced at each other before saying, “Not a thing,” in unison, and then laughing.

Clara rolled her eyes. “It’s no fair when you can read each other’s minds.” But the faux annoyance was quickly replaced by excitement. “So where are we off to today?”

Before the Doctor could answer, the TARDIS was being picked up despite him not having touched any buttons, and then Rose felt a strange shiver wash over her, and she was pretty sure that her eyes flashed gold for a moment. “Uh- Doctor?” She glanced over, and saw him stumble and fall right out of the TARDIS. Clara rushed over, but Rose didn’t bother, because she knew that the Doctor wouldn’t dare die here. 

Unfortunately, it meant that both the Doctor and Clara were pretty preoccupied, and Rose knew that she didn’t have longer than a few seconds. She rushed over to the console to grab the sheet of sticky notes that she always left there, and scribbled as much of a message as she could across the top note before she disappeared into a ball of golden light. 

When the TARDIS landed down, Clara started to hurry out to see that the Doctor was alright, but she stopped to glance back at Rose. She was surprised that the woman hadn’t already rushed into her husband’s waiting arms. But Rose wasn’t there, and Clara frowned. “Where is she?” she asked the TARDIS, hoping that the ship would try to be nice to her for once. The response was an almost sad beeping noise, and then a blinking light on the console. 

Clara walked over to the light, and spotted the writing scrawled out across the top sticky night. ‘Be back in a mo’ was all that it said. 

,,,

Rose was determined to get back to her Doctor. She’d already made more jumps through the void than she cared to count, but she knew that it would all be worth it when she finally found herself back in his arms. And then she’d force him to finish that sentence that he’d run out of time for, because if there was one thing that Rose had learned in her short time with the Doctor, it was that there was never a perfect time for anything. 

She slammed her eyes shut as she went through the now familiar sensation of having her entire body squeezed inside out. No matter how many times she jumped through the void, it never got any easier, and it never felt any less suffocating. But then it was over just as abruptly as it had started, and Rose kept her eyes closed for a moment so that she could take a few deep breaths and stop herself from feeling like she was about to pass out. 

When she opened her eyes again, she let out a small sigh of frustration. She was obviously in the wrong place, yet again, because she couldn’t think of any reason that the Doctor would have to be in a small run down shack in the middle of a desert. 

,,,

The Doctor knew that he’d probably said something fast-paced and witty to Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, but for the life of him, he had no idea what. He could hardly pay attention when his wife was missing, and all he had for clues was a sticky note with her handwriting and a million questions. He wanted to be angry at Clara for not keeping a closer eye on Rose, but he could hardly be mad at her for being concerned about him when he’d been dangling over the ground like that.

Still, the Doctor would much prefer to go searching for Rose than to follow the humans further into the museum. But this was possibly his chance to learn why Elizabeth I hated him, and Rose wouldn’t want him to miss out. And then there was also the fact that Rose could take care of herself these days, often better than the Doctor could. They’d come a long way since the days of Rose getting nabbed and put in danger by every other alien they came across (though the Doctor didn’t think that he would ever stop worrying when she was out of sight). 

As they headed to what was supposed to be proof of Liz I’s credentials, he stopped short at the sight of a particular painting hanging on the wall. How could he not, when it contained himself- or his past self- in it? He furrowed his eyebrows to think for a moment, and then realized that he could also remember seeing that painting on the TARDIS the day that he’d asked Rose to marry him. And sure enough, when his eyes flicked down he could see a familiar signature just barely poking out above the bottom edge of the frame. Rose signed all of her works with an ‘RT’ and a rose, and the Doctor could see the top of the usual rose. 

He only thought to keep following when Clara tugged on his sleeve, but the Doctor couldn’t stop thinking about that painting. Rose had made it after they’d been reunited while he wore his current face, but why? And how did it end up in the queen’s gallery? (Not that he didn’t think Rose’s stuff wasn’t good enough to be seen by the public, but that miserable looking painting was hardly her best work). 

And then his thoughts were forcibly dragged away from his wife as he saw what he was there to see. Something that should be completely impossible, though not for the reasons Clara seemed to think as she stepped closer to the painting and turned her head to the side to get a closer look. “-how is it doing that?” Clara asked, eyes wide. “How is it possible? It’s an oil painting in 3D.” 

The Doctor opened his mouth to explain that it was Time Lord art, but then Kate made a funny noise, and pointed to the painting. “I don’t recall that being there before.”

The Doctor moved to look at the painting from the same angle as Kate, already dreading what he might see. The fall of Arcadia wasn’t exactly something he wanted to get a closer look, not when he’d tried so hard to forget about who he’d been back then. But then he saw what the woman was pointing out, and he couldn’t help the grin that started to stretch at his lips. From the exact angle they were standing at, it could be seen in the far background of the painting that the mountains aligned just so to spell out two words- Bad Wolf.

,,,

For some reason, Rose’s dimension cannon wasn’t working. She tried messing around with it (though she only had an ordinary screwdriver to work with), but nothing was helping. She couldn’t panic, though. Whatever was going on, she’d figure out how to get out of this, because she refused to believe in a future where she wasn’t reunited with the Doctor.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there when there was a flash of golden light, and then suddenly Rose was staring at… herself. Her eyes widened as she jumped to her feet. There was no dimension cannon on the other Rose’s arm, but still, considering how often the Doctor mentioned having bumped into other versions of himself, it was almost surprising that Rose had never seen another Rose before.

The other Rose gave her a wide grin. “Oh good, you’re here. I mean, I knew you would be, because I remember it all, but still. You can never be too sure when it comes to Time. Don’t worry, it won’t be long now.”

Rose crossed her arms over her chest. “Won’t be long until what?”

The other Rose just shrugged, and kept staring at her. “This is so weird. You haven’t become me yet. I wonder if this is how the Doctor feels when he sees his younger faces.”

“Pretty much,” came a (relatively) new voice. The first two Roses turned and saw a third Rose step into the falling apart shack. “Shall we start, then?” 

“With what?” Rose demanded, feeling confused and frustrated. “What is going on?” She looked back and forth between the other two Roses, who had to be older versions of her. 

Instead of answering her, Rose 2 looked at Rose 3. “Ohhh. It was the Moment, wasn’t it? I always thought it was Bad Wolf.”

Rose 3 shrugged. “Who’s to say that they aren’t the same thing? But yes, today is the day that we become who we are now.” She looked at Rose with sympathy in her eyes, and Rose hated it. “I can make this a little easier on you, if you’d like. At first I thought- three Roses for three Doctors, but I can see now that that wouldn’t work anyways. Too much risk involved. But we do need to be here. It’s the only way to make sure that you can give the Doctor the forever that you promised him. But it isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to hurt, a lot.”

“I could just leave,” Rose threatened.

Rose 3 snorted. “As if you’d ever leave when you know the Doctor needs you.”

Rose sighed, and nodded once in defeat. Besides, if it meant that she could be with the Doctor again, then she was willing to put up with quite a lot of pain. “So what can you do to help?” 

The oldest Rose grinned. “I’m so glad you asked.” She reached out to grab Rose and Rose 2’s hands at the same time, and indicated that they should link hands as well, forming a closed loop. “It’ll be too confusing with three of us running around, since we’ve all got the same face, unlike a certain someone. So let’s work together on this. We can share all the burden and pain, and all the pleasure and joy.”

There was a big flash of golden light, and then there was just one Rose. And even though her clothes were a tattered combination of the three separate outfits she’d just been wearing, Rose Tyler knew exactly who she was. 

,,,

The Doctor had walked for miles after landing the TARDIS, not wanting the old girl to have to watch what he was about to do. The ship had been resistant to land here at all, most likely able to already see the outcome of what the Doctor planned to do. 

He let his sack drop to the floor, grateful to let go of the burden that felt much heavier than a box of that size should. He went back over to the door to glance outside and make sure no one had followed him, since it would be immediately obvious on such flat terrain, and then turned back. He started when he saw a young girl perched on the box, grinning up at him. “Don’t sit on that!” he snapped. How dare she just sit there and smile like that, as if this wasn’t about to be the worst day of his life.

She didn’t stand up, though, or even flinch back by the sharpness of his voice. “Why don’t you take a seat, Doctor? I know that you’ve had such a long walk to get here.”

“Don’t call me that,” he growled.

The girl tilted her head to the side, and she looked confused for a moment, and then the look was replaced with one of understanding. “It’s the name that’s in your head,” she told him quietly. The Doctor didn’t know who this girl was, but he wanted no pity or understanding from her. How could anyone possibly understand? She stood abruptly, and walked over to him. “I’ll admit, I’ll never have to make a choice quite as difficult as the one you’re about to make. But I’ve committed genocide of my own. Or I will.” She reached out to grab both of the Doctor’s hands, and he refused to acknowledge how perfectly they seemed to fit with his. “Do you know who I am, Doctor?”

He shook his head, and didn’t bother yelling about her using that name. Clearly she wouldn’t listen to him about it. “No. But you’re obviously no ordinary girl.”

There was a pause, and then she let out a loud belt of laughter, and even though there was absolutely nothing refined about the noise, the Doctor couldn’t help thinking that it was actually a quite pleasant sound to listen to. “Oh, Doctor, maybe someday you’ll get the joke. But honestly, I am just an ordinary girl. Or I was. Just an average shopgirl going through life with no idea about what was waiting for her out there.” She sighed, looking nostalgic, and ran one of her hands up the Doctor’s leather sleeve. “Doctor, today isn’t meant to be an easy day. For either of us. But I want you to know what your future holds. I want you to see what kind of a man can press that button.” 

When the Doctor glanced over the girl’s shoulder, he saw that a big red button had risen up out of the previously impenetrable looking box. “What should I call you?”

There was an even longer pause, and there was a thoughtful look on the girl’s face before she responded. “I suppose you wouldn’t understand why that’s such a difficult question. For now, Doctor, you can call me Bad Wolf. But it’s no more my name than Warrior is yours. Now come on,” she waved towards the air, and the Doctor could feel it as time split apart in a small space. “Anything could be on the other side of there.” A fez came through and landed on the dusty ground, and Bad Wolf looked delighted. “Oh, it looks like we’re right on time. I was a bit worried that he wouldn’t catch on soon enough. He can be a bit daft sometimes, you know.”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Who can?”

“You.”

,,,

The Doctor had always been curious about why Elizabeth I hated him so much, and decided that now was as good a time as any to figure it out. It’s not like he had any companions with him to potentially get injured by the queen’s wrath. He certainly wasn’t expecting to find a Zygon conspiracy, though he wouldn’t deny that it made things much more exciting.

He stared at the two queens, trying to figure out if one had any little imperfections in her disguise, but he already knew that neither would. Zygons were very efficient with their quasi-cloning process. And then he could feel it as a little tear in time opened up, and a fez of all things fell through. 

For some reason, the Doctor thought he could hear the ghost of a laugh as he picked it up and put it on his head. Just a few seconds later, a ridiculous looking man with stretchy looking limbs fell from the rift, and the two of them looked at each other distrustfully for a moment before the other man grinned. “Oh, that is skinny. That is proper skinny. I’ve never seen it from the outside. It’s like a special effect. I can’t believe Rose ever-” then he cut himself off, looking guilty.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he gave the other man a long look, and then took a glance at his timeline. “You’re not…” They both whipped out their sonic screwdrivers at the same time, and even though the other one looked a bit different, the Doctor just knew that it was still his. So it was a future version of himself, then. One that must be very far in the future indeed to be able to make jokes regarding Rose without a second thought. “What are you doing here? I’m busy.” 

The older Doctor rolled his eyes, and then glanced over at the two queens. “Oh, busy. I see.” He sounded so disappointed, and the Doctor wondered if his older self knew more about the Elizabeth I situation. 

He felt the need to defend himself to himself, and quickly said, “One of them is a Zygon.” Though shouldn’t his older self already know that? Honestly, why couldn’t the Doctor ever meet a competent version of himself (he tried desperately not to think about what that means about him as a whole)? 

The queens both ran off when the rift reappeared, and then an unfamiliar voice called through. “Doctor? Is that you?”

The older Doctor nodded. “Ah, hello Clara. Can you hear me?”

Well. At least now the Doctor knew for sure that he would travel with companions again someday, though he was too afraid to look at the timelines and see just how far away such a time must be. He couldn’t imagine wanting to ever travel with anyone again, not after seeing just how much he ruined lives and destroyed all of his companions. Or at least all of the ones he’d had with him since the end of the Time War.

Then before he knew it, another rift was popping open, and a familiar face tumbled out of it. Both of the Doctors that had already been standing there let out simultaneous involuntary growls, though they were cut off by the sound of an achingly familiar voice. “Now now, boys, play nice. It’s only yourself.”

“Rose,” the older Doctor said happily. He looked relieved as he walked over to the blonde and pulled her into a hug.

But the Doctor couldn’t stop staring. He couldn’t figure out how his older self could possibly react with anything other than complete shock. Rose was standing there, right in front of them, dressed weirdly and with her hair a knotted mess, but she was really there, offering that tongue-touched grin that the Doctor had missed so much. 

The youngest Doctor frowned. “Rose?” he repeated. “That sounds nothing like Bad Wolf.”

Rose laughed. “Just like how the Doctor sounds nothing like the Warrior, right?”

The oldest Doctor rolled his eyes. “What are you doing here? You nearly gave me two simultaneous heart attacks. It’s a bit mean to disappear when I’m not looking, isn’t it.”

Rose grabbed his jacket to pull him down so that she could kiss him right on the lips, and the Doctor watched with unhidden envy on his face. What was going on? “Sorry ‘bout that. Wasn’t exactly my plan or anything.”

The older Doctor scoffed. “As if I could believe that. I saw the painting in the National Gallery, Rose. That doesn’t exactly strike me as a coincidence.”

Rose gave the younger looking Time Lord a look that the Doctor had never seen before, and he found himself desperately wanting to see every expression that she was capable of making. “What’s going on?” he had to ask. 

Rose finally looked over at him, and the Doctor thought that he could have died his final death in that moment and be happy, because he’d gotten to see Rose Tyler again. She pulled away from the older Doctor to make her way over to the middle one, and pulled him into a tight hug. “Oh, Doctor. I’m so sorry that you’re alone right now. I’ve been searching the universe to find you. Or maybe I did that already.” She gave him a long look, and then nodded. “You’ve only recently left me behind, haven’t you?”

The older Doctor came over to put his hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Rose, have you forgotten the sanctity of spoilers?”

Rose glanced at him for a moment before looking back at the Doctor. “We’re out of synch right now. However this all ends, you won’t remember it. Not for a very long time, anyways.”

“Shouldn’t we at least try to be-”

Suddenly they were surrounded by the cavalry, and as the older Doctor demanded to be locked up with his co-conspirators, the Doctor realized that Rose was just standing there, but no one seemed to see her. He had so many questions, and if he wasn’t going to remember any of this anyways, then was there really harm in getting a few answers?

,,,

Clara went with Kate to the Black Archive so they could figure out how to spring the Doctor out of prison. Clara couldn’t help smirking to herself as she thought of how Rose would react when she learned that the Doctor had been locked up- without her. They were certainly an unorthodox couple, there was no arguing with that. 

She wasn’t expecting for it to turn out she’d been with an alien who looked like Kate, but she was able to grab the vortex manipulator and put in the code the Doctor had sent, just in time. She landed in a dark stone hallway, and hesitated for a moment about which way to go. Then she heard the sound of several loud voices arguing, and decided that the Doctor- or maybe Doctors?- had to be that way.

She pushed open the large wooden door that she came across, and saw the Doctor, and Rose snogging some random (but fit) bloke, and an old man. The Doctor had said that he’d been talking to himself, so Clara assumed that somehow, someway, that fit bloke had to be the Doctor, because there was no way Rose would ever look so happy to kiss anyone else. 

Her Doctor looked at her with a slight frown. “How did you do that?”

Clara shrugged. “It wasn’t locked.”

Rose finally pulled away from the other guy, and let out a loud snort. “Hey Clara, here’s one that you haven’t heard before- how many Doctors does it take to open a door?”

The Doctor pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s your fault, Rose. If you weren’t here being so distracting, then it wouldn’t even be a problem. Besides, we would have figured it out.” He waved his sonic screwdriver pointedly. 

Rose gave the guy in pinstripes another quick kiss before pulling away with a fond, but almost sad, little smile. “Same software, different face.” The Doctor held his arms open for her, but she walked right past him to stand next to the old man. She linked her arm through his, and then Clara understood that all three of them were the Doctor, even though it made no logical sense for someone to have three entirely different faces. Though if anyone was going to do something so… alien, then it made sense for it to be the Doctor who did.

Clara laughed as she looked at Rose. “I don’t know how you always manage to keep up with one Doctor, let alone three of ‘em. So there are three of them in one cell and none of them thought to try the door?”

“It should have been locked,” the old looking Doctor grumbled. 

The Doctor nodded. “Yes, exactly. Why wasn’t it locked?”

,,,

The Doctor gave Rose a pleading look when Elizabeth reminded him of his proposal. Even though he knew that he would have to forget most of this adventure, it was also obvious that Rose and his future self were together in all the ways that the Doctor had always wanted but been too afraid to go for. And if was going to have Rose back someday, then how could he even consider going through with marriage to another woman, even if it was quite clear that he was not in love with her?

Thank Rassilon that Rose seemed to take pity on him, and she walked over to the queen. She gave Elizabeth a friendly smile, and then spoke softly enough that not even a Time Lord’s superior hearing could pick up the words. When Rose was done talking, the queen laughed, and then nodded once before exchanging a firm handshake with Rose. She wished them luck on their trip, and then let the whole group go into the Doctor’s TARDIS. She didn’t even look curious about how five people were supposed to cram into a small box. 

Once the doors were shut behind them, the Doctor looked over at Rose. “What did you say to her?” 

There was that mischievous sparkle in Rose’s eyes that the Doctor had missed so much. “Oh, I’d tell you, but… spoilers.” 

The Doctor frowned. He’d only heard one other person say that word in that exact way. Professor River Song, who had given her life to save everyone in the Library. And she’d gained his trust by whispering two little words into his ears, ‘Bad Wolf’. There had never been time to ask her about that, and now that the Doctor knew he’d see Rose again, he couldn’t wait to learn about the connection between River Song and Rose. 

Then the TARDIS started freaking out, unable to handle three different Doctors at the same time. Rose didn’t look at all bothered, and was somehow able to stand perfectly still without being jostled around like the rest of them. “Good thing we didn’t bring three post-Game Station Roses. That would have been really bad.” She reached out to press her hand flat against the console, and closed her eyes to whisper something. 

A moment later, the TARDIS stabilized, and had taken on an appearance that the Doctor didn’t recognize. “Oh, you’ve redecorated.”

Before he could make a jab about not liking it, the older Doctor shook his head. “No. I mean, I have, but this isn’t mine.” He glanced over at Rose. 

She shrugged, looking amused. “It’s one of my favorite desktops.” She didn’t need to clarify that it had to be from the future. Though the Doctor couldn’t figure out why he’d redecorate twice within one regeneration, considering that he didn’t even get a new desktop for each new face. But that was the only explanation, because with the regeneration that had created the metacrisis, the older Doctor currently in the TARDIS would be the last Doctor there was.

,,,

The room was quite crowded, and the Doctor wasn’t fond of how much showboating he seemed to do in the future. He separated from the group, and found a comfortable looking chair to sink down into. He looked over, and his eyes landed on Bad Wolf, or Rose, or whatever her name was. 

She was clearly much more to him than a companion, though he could understand why. Even in just the short amount of time that he’d known her, she’d proven herself to be smart, and funny, and powerful in ways that the Doctor didn’t understand. Not to mention that she was beautiful, and there was something mesmerizing about how much love was in her eyes when she looked at the Doctor- any version of him. He had no doubt that Rose was worthy of being whatever they were in the future. The part he didn’t understand, though, was how she could be so in love with him considering what he was about to do. 

Right now, as the species-confused group worked on their negotiations, pinstripes wrapped his arm around Rose’s waist and looked unwilling to let her go. She seemed content to remain in his grasp, even as bowtie looked on with jealousy. The Doctor had gotten into disagreements with his other selves at times, but he couldn’t recall ever feeling envious of them. But clearly he was going to be a different man someday, probably soon if the old feeling in his bones was any indication. 

He was so busy watching Rose- and how could anyone not watch her when she had such a brilliant glow about her?- that he didn’t notice the other girl walk over until she plopped down into the seat across from him. “Hello.”

The Doctor focused on her. “Hello.”

“I’m Clara. We haven’t really met yet.”

The Doctor gave her a long look. For all intents and purposes she appeared to be an ordinary young woman, but he knew that he only traveled with the best. “I look forward to it.” She kept staring at him, and he probably should have asked why, but he heard the sound of Rose laughing at something one of the future Doctors had said, and he found himself asking about her instead. “Who is Rose?”

Clara leaned back in her seat, and continued to stare at him. “Aren’t you not supposed to know too much about your own future?”

“I’m sure I’ll forget all of this,” he assured her. “My future selves were clearly quite surprised to see me.”

Clara nodded. “Well in that case, she’s your wife. Or she will be. For as long as I’ve known them, it’s always been the Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS. I don’t actually know very much about her past, if that’s what you wanted to hear, though. I know she used to be human,” a shopgirl the Doctor filled in in his head. “But then when he- you- were in danger, she looked into the heart of the TARDIS.” The Doctor gasped sharply, and Clara frowned. “I’m still not even sure what that really means, to be honest. I just know that I’ve always had trouble thinking of her as a human. But she’s not quite like the Doctor, either. She’s just… she’s Rose.” They both sat there in silence for a moment before she suddenly said, “You haven’t done it yet. Wipe out all the Time Lords to stop the war, I mean.”

The Doctor frowned. “You’re very sure of yourself.” The Doctor didn’t care about regret, or younger eyes. He told Clara that he could see how many lives his regret had saved. And besides that, he could see how his future selves returned all of Rose’s feelings, and he wasn’t sure exactly how they’d met, but obviously it was after today. “I don’t want to risk not meeting her,” he said, knowing that Clara wouldn’t need a further explanation. “I’ve seen all I needed. The moment has come.” Rose suddenly turned to look over at him, even though she had to be too far away to have heard. “I’m ready,” he said quietly. 

Rose gave a slight nod, and pulled herself free from pinstripes. He looked like he had to force himself not to cry, and even though the Doctor knew that this would be the worst day of his life, he wanted to get through it to get to a day where he would be so in love that he would cry over Rose Tyler. 

She slowly walked over to where the Doctor and Clara were sitting, and she reached out one hand. “I know you are.” 

Clara’s eyes widened. “Rose, what are you doing?”

But a moment later, the room and the other Doctors and Clara were all gone, and the Doctor and Rose were both standing in that dusty old barn again. 

,,,

Clara rushed over to the Doctor and the other Doctor. “They just disappeared!”

The Doctor looked over at the empty chairs, and then frowned. “Didn’t even leave a sticky note this time? Honestly, that woman is going to be the death of me.” He glanced at the pinstripe Doctor, and laughed. “Well, I guess she technically already has been.”

The pinstripe Doctor rolled his eyes. “Tasteless. And why aren’t you more worried?” 

Clara tugged at the Doctor’s sleeve, trying to get the Time Lord to focus on the more important thing. “I think that she’s taken the younger version of you back to the Time War to end it.”

The two Doctors exchanged a look where they probably had some super long telepathic conversation or something, and then they looked back at her. “Well if Rose is the one going and jumping through time locked events, then it’s probably okay.”

Neither of them made any move to actually, well, move, though the pinstripe Doctor did have a sour look on his face. Clara narrowed her eyes, and put her hands on hips. “Don’t be daft! Do you really want him to have to do it alone?” The Doctor opened his mouth, probably to say Rose’s name, and Clara shook her head. “Do you want Rose to witness you doing the thing that you seem to regret more than anything else in your life? I just- come on. Please?”

The Doctor sighed. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know that I’m not immune to brown eyes the way Rose is.” She didn’t back down, and the Doctor quickly broke. “Fine, fine, come on. Er,” he looked at his younger self. “You don’t mind giving us a lift back to our ride, do you?”

The pinstripe Doctor laughed. “Sure.” The three of them hurried back through the painting, where the Doctor told Clara to stick close to him and to not look around too much, and then they were able to emerge back in the younger Doctor’s TARDIS, which was still hovering around in the vortex. The Doctor and Clara were dropped off outside the National Gallery, next to their own TARDIS, and then they all agreed to meet back at the end of the war.

As the Doctor put in the coordinates, there was a slowness to his movements, and it was obvious that he didn’t want to go back to one of the worst moments of his life. Clara almost felt bad for forcing the issue, but then she thought of the youngest Doctor’s eyes, and she knew that they couldn’t just abandon him. And no matter how compassionate and loving Rose was, it was clear that she had a role to play in all of this, and Clara wasn’t sure that it was one that would allow her to be of much help.

Clara reached out to put her hand on the Doctor’s arm. “Doctor-” They landed, and then the Doctor hurried out. Clara rolled her eyes and followed after him, and she saw the pinstripe Doctor emerging from his TARDIS as well. “I told you, he hasn’t done it yet.”

The youngest Doctor looked back at them. “Go away now, all of you. This is for me.”

The pinstripe Doctor looked around with wide eyes. “These events should be time-locked. We shouldn’t even be here.”

The Doctor frowned. “So something let us through.” 

Rose laughed, and Clara noticed that she was leaning up against a strange box with a button sticking out of it. “You clever boys. That would be me, sorry. I swear that for once, I didn’t choose to interfere. And I’m not in any danger, so don’t try and ‘jeopardy friendly’ me.” She stayed where she was instead of immediately going to embrace the Doctor, and that only solidified in Clara’s mind that Rose was a part of these events, and not just a bystander.

She listened to the Doctors as they all gathered together and put their hands together on top of the button. Clara bit her lip as she was suddenly struck with just how real all of this was. It was no longer just a sad story or something used to threaten whatever alien of the day was causing trouble. It was real, and it was happening right now. 

Clara’s eyes slowly moved to Rose, and she expected the blonde to be watching the Doctors. Instead, she met Clara’s gaze, and even though there was a serious look on her face, her eyes didn’t look sad. Clara thought that maybe she should say something, but only a choked noise came out. The Doctor glanced back at her. “What? What is it? What?”

Clara meant to just say ‘nothing’, but she knew it would mean about as much as the Doctor saying that he was fine, so she told the truth instead. “You told me you wiped out your own people. I just- I never pictured you doing it, that’s all.”

“You can wait in the TARDIS,” he told her gently. He glanced over at Rose. “You too.” 

Before Clara could insist that she was staying, Rose just laughed. “If you want to press that button, then I have to be right here. Or hadn’t you figured that part out?”

From the way the Doctor gaped at her, it was obvious that he hadn’t ‘figured that part out’. Despite the circumstances, Rose only laughed again. “Even Clara figured it out, at least partially.” She shot Clara a proud look, then reached over to put her hand over the Doctors’. Her eyes flared gold as she spoke, though her voice remained normal sounding. “I am Bad Wolf and I create myself. I have seen every moment of the universe. And I’ve created a few of them myself.”

The Doctor pulled his hand away from the button, though he turned his palm up to grab Rose’s hand instead, and the other two Doctors hesitantly pulled away. The Doctor stared at Rose, though Clara couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “You created a weapon of mass destruction? One that you had to have known would be used for this purpose?”

Rose reached up to gently cup the side of the Doctor’s face. “This is what you needed to do. And I would do just about anything for you, my Doctor.”

“But you already ended the Time War once. I can’t make you do it again.”

Clara walked over to the Doctors and Rose, and put one hand on her hip. “Look at the four of you. The goddess, the warrior, the hero, and you.”

The Doctor seemed like he had to tear his eyes away from Rose to look at Clara. “And what am I?”

“Have you really forgotten?”

The Doctor glanced at Rose again before looking back at Clara. “Maybe.”

“We’ve got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.” She gave the Doctor a small smile, and could practically feel Rose’s pride in her emanating out of the blonde. She kept going, spurred on by the knowledge that Rose thought Clara was doing the right thing. “You need to do what you’ve always done. Be a doctor. You told me that the name you chose was a promise. What was that promise?”

,,, 

The Doctor grinned as he took in what his older selves were saying. “She didn’t just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see!”

Rose grinned at him when he glanced over at her. “Now you’re getting it.” 

“Oh, Rose, I could kiss you.” 

Bowtie and pinstripes both immediately scowled at him. “Not bloody likely,” pinstripes practically growled.

Clara clapped her hands together, and the Doctor applauded her for trying to get everyone back on track. “So what are we doing? What’s the plan?”

,,,

Rose stared at the monitor, taking in each face of her beloved Doctor. She already knew that she would never see most of them in person, though the glimpse of one of her future Doctors was nice. She wondered if her Doctor would question the existence of a future one, and she glanced at Clara. Was she a bad person for being grateful that Clara let herself be torn to shreds in order to save the Doctor enough to get him to this point? 

Then she shook her head, not wanting to think sad thoughts on a day like today. She looked at the section of the screen with her first Doctor, the one with big ears and leather, and remembered the Blitz, and him hugging her as he shouted for joy at the fact that for just that once, everyone lived. She reached up to touch the screen, but didn’t try to move in front of the cameras for all the other Doctors to see her. Most of those faces weren’t meant to see her at any point.

There was a whir of activity, and the Time Lord general was shouting at them, and then suddenly, everything went still. Rose reached into her pocket to pull out a small box. It was the Moment, but pocket sized. It didn’t matter where she left it, because anyone who tried to activate it would have to deal with her, but she got the feeling that the Doctor would be happy to see it destroyed permanently. Unfortunately for him, it had more uses to it yet than just being a bomb.

She stuck it back into her bigger-on-the-inside pocket, and decided to deal with it later. They landed in the National Gallery, alongside two older, dingier looking TARDIS’, and everyone stepped out. Clara carried out a tray with enough tea cups for all of them, and then ran back to grab the kettle. 

The Time Lords all looked at the 3D painting, and even though Rose could only see one of their thoughts (unfortunately, marriage bonds were not backwards compatible, only forwards), she was pretty sure she could guess what all of them were thinking. She looked to the youngest Doctor. “Penny for ‘em?”

He frowned even as Clara emerged and poured tea for all of them. “I don’t suppose we’ll know if we actually succeeded. But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong.”

Rose thought of her next Doctor’s face, and of what he would accomplish. Someday she’d be able to get back into the routine of visiting her mum in between every few adventures, because with the Gallifrey and the Time Lords back, travel between parallel universes was as easy as any other travel. And, well, it’s not like any of the three Doctors here would remember this anyways. She gave him a smile, and then grabbed one of his arms in a hug. “Well, you might not be able to see the future,” she started. 

He looked at her with wide eyes, and Rose was very aware of the feeling of her other two Doctors’ eyes on her. “We did it?”

Rose nodded once, and then kissed his cheek. “You did it.”

There was another minute of chatter, and then the youngest Doctor left, though not before pulling Rose into a hug. “I look forward to meeting you, even if I won’t know it.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long.” In fact, it would be less than a month or two in his own timeline before they would meet in the basement of Henrik’s and Rose’s life would be forever changed. 

Then it was time for the pinstripes Doctor to leave, and that felt much sadder to Rose. Of course she loved the Doctor no matter what he looked like, and she knew that she was going to have so many wonderful Doctors yet to come, but this one would always be special in her heart. All of the ones she’d known would be. And seeing him again only to watch him leave was a bittersweet feeling, since she knew that she wouldn’t be seeing that particular face again. 

She pulled him down into a deep kiss, ignoring the indignation she could feel through her bond to the other Doctor, and pinstripes returned the kiss hungrily. They didn’t pull apart until they needed to breath, which was quite a long time considering who they were. “I never thought I’d be so eager to get to the future.”

Rose smiled at him. “Don’t hurry too much. There’s still so many fantastic people that you need to meet along the way. Don’t worry, I’ll be waiting.” And she meant that in quite the literal sense, considering that she’d waited twelve hundred long, linear years to see the Doctor again. But she was glad to have waited that long. She’d met a few fantastic people of her own.

The Doctor hesitated in the doorway of his TARDIS. “I know I was an idiot before, but you were right, it does need saying. Rose Tyler I love you.”

She sniffed, not wanting to start crying, since that might convince the younger Doctor to never leave. “Quite right, too.” And then he stepped inside and closed the doors, and his TARDIS dematerialized a moment later. 

Rose walked back over to her Doctor, and threaded their hands together. Clara offered them both a small smile. “Need a moment alone with your wife? Or would you rather a moment with your painting?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “How did you know?”

She looked pointedly at their joined hands. “I always know,” she said dryly. “I’ll just be waiting inside. Try not to take too long, and don’t do anything that’ll get us banned for life.”

“So you’re saying we shouldn’t steal back my painting?” Rose asked with a gleam in her eye.

Clara shrugged, looking unbothered. “Nah, that’d be fine. I just meant that you shouldn’t do anything inappropriate.” Then she grabbed the tray of tea cups, most of which were still full, and brought it back into the TARDIS with her.

Rose leaned her head against the Doctor’s shoulder as they both looked at the painting. She squeezed his hand once before clearing her throat. “I kinda have to go now. Only kind of, though, I swear.” She let go of him and took a step back. “Please don’t be worried. Everything is fine. I’ll just need you to do a bit of tinkering on something. Hang on a moment.” 

,,,

The Doctor had no idea what was going on, but he had to look away when he was met with the sight of a familiar golden light. When he opened his eyes again, there were three Roses standing in front of him. One of them was wearing a familiar blue leather jacket and hardened look on her face, and the Doctor’s hearts clenched for her. He knew that her dimension jumping days had been difficult, and all of that trouble had only resulted in him leaving her behind again. 

One Rose was dressed the way his had been before she’d disappeared that morning, in a white blouse and black leggings, which had been repaired as though by magic. The third was clearly older- even if she didn’t look it physically. The Doctor could still feel his bond to her, though it was more distant, muted. Obviously she didn’t want him to accidentally get too big a glimpse of the future through her thoughts. 

The youngest Rose, the one the Doctor had no bond with, looked at the other two, eyes shining with something that almost seemed to be betrayal. But she nodded once, to a question the Doctor didn’t understand, and then she turned back to the Doctor. “New new new Doctor, huh?” She held out the arm with the dimension cannon on it, and the Doctor was slightly surprised that she didn’t ask any questions about the future. Then again, she had just (somehow) been sharing a body with future versions of herself, so maybe she’d already gotten a few spoilers. 

The Doctor sonicked her transport, and then she fidgeted with the controls for a moment before looking back up at him. She suddenly leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, and then disappeared a moment later without saying anything else. The Doctor turned to the other two Roses. “She- you- seem very, uh,”

The oldest Rose smiled, and he was glad to see that even after a lot of time had passed, that tongue-touched grin of hers would never fail to make everything in him react. “She knows about her second visit to Bad Wolf Bay.” The Doctor’s eyes widened, and the oldest Rose continued. “Unlike Time Lords, I can’t hide away revealing memories, so I knew as soon as I landed on Earth that time that you would send me away again. And that you would get shot because of me. But I went anyways, because I had to. And because I’d been promised a long and happy life with the human you, and I got that, even if it was hardly any time at all for me.” She stepped forward and reached up to gently press her hand flat against the center of the Doctor’s chest. “You’re not going to remember most of this, not for a while. But someday you will, and when you do, make sure to give me a big kiss.”

“As if he’d need an excuse,” his Rose interjected, and the two blondes shared a glance and a small laugh. Having two Roses right in front of him felt like something right out of the kind of dream that he always claimed Time Lords didn’t have, especially when they both gave him such heated looks. “Shouldn’t you be going now? Wouldn’t want anyone getting too worried.” She shot a pointed look at the Doctor.

The older Rose nodded. “Yeah. I just want to take in this face.”

The Doctor frowned. “But I-” then he thought of all the Doctors that had been gathered to assist with freezing Gallifrey. “How-?”

“Spoilers,” she told him with a laugh, just like he should have suspected that she would. “See you around, Doctor.” And then she was just gone, no light or rift or anything. 

His Rose took his hand again. “I love you, Doctor.”

“And I love you, Rose Tyler.” He led her back into the TARDIS, and snapped to close the doors behind them. “Where should we go next?”

Clara leaned over so that he could see her from where she was standing on the other side of the console. “You’re taking me home first, mister. I have a lot of homework to grade. And I just might have a date to get to, though I’m not going to tell you about it.”

The Doctor laughed as he danced over to the console to put in the coordinates to bring Clara home, and Rose helped him, since she refused to let go of his hand. Not that he was complaining. Nothing felt more right than having her hand in his.

,,,

The Doctor brought Gallifrey back, and then he remembered long ago events with a great deal of clarity, more than just the fuzzy ‘saved Gallifrey’ feeling he’d had for a while now, and he suddenly turned around to grab Rose and pull her into a deep kiss. When he finally pulled away, she looked flushed and breathless and absolutely beautiful. “What was that for?” 

“You told me to,” he reminded her, and it took a moment, and then her eyes widened with realization. He still had questions- though he was sure she wouldn’t give him many answers. So instead of wasting time asking, he just pulled her in for another kiss.

Then Rose stepped back a tiny bit, and reached into her pocket to pull out a small box. With three different layers of memories fresh in his mind, he was able to recognize the Moment, though it had been made travel size. He resisted the urge to shout and ask her why she had that blasted thing. “Well, now that travel between parallel universes has been opened up, there’s still something we need to do. I need to make sure that I become me.”

The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows (and knew that with this current face, anything he did with his eyebrows looked quite impressive). “What do you mean?”

“Taking in the time vortex was the start of my transformation, but you did take most of it out of me. This is going to serve as sort of… a reminder of sorts. It’s what will let me become the person who could come back to you. Come on.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the console. “We need to make sure that our future is firmly in place.” The Doctor couldn’t even imagine what his life would be like if he hadn’t been reunited with Rose, so if bringing that blasted thing to her younger self was what would lead them to be together again, then he wasn’t going to argue it.

,,,

The Doctor and River were laughing and talking about some crazy story or another when Rose was suddenly standing in front of them, and the Doctor leapt up to pull her wife into a hug. “How strange it must be for you. When I experience things at multiple different times, I don’t remember them again until they’re happening, but for you, you’re just constantly building new memories on top of each other.”

Rose shrugged. “It is a bit weird, I’ll admit. But I am also different from you in that I have memories of things that haven’t happened yet. It can make getting the tenses right quite difficult. But anyways, I’m glad that all of that is dealt with.” She kicked off her shoes, and sank down onto the couch, patting the empty space next to her to get her wife to sit down as well. 

The Doctor sat, and immediately the two blondes curled up together, ignoring River’s token comment about how ‘sickeningly adorable’ they were together. The Doctor chuckled after a moment. “You know, I’ve wondered about it for years. If I never actually married Elizabeth I, then why was there a marriage painting of us in the gallery? And even though I saw that you were the one who painted it, I pretty much forgot about it for a while. I think I can blame the TARDIS for that. She probably didn’t want me to know too much. But tell me this: if you got me out of my marriage to the the queen, and got her to agree to keep a portrait of me with her, then why did she still want to kill me when I visited Shakespeare?”

Rose laughed loudly at that, and the Doctor did her best not to pout. “Oh, I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I told her that threatening your life would be a fun prank.”

“Rose! That’s not funny!” the Doctor protested, even as she started laughing as well. “I’m going to get you back for that.”

River abruptly stood up. “Annnd that’s my cue to head out.” She leaned over to kiss the top of both blonde heads, and then headed to the doorway. “See you around Rose, Doctor.” 

When it was just the married couple alone on the TARDIS, they grinned at each other. “So a Rose for every Doctor, huh? Yeah, that sounds fair enough to me.”


End file.
